Feddriks, Douwe, van Molqueren (17th/18th century)

Douwe Feddriks, van Molqueren, was a Dutch Mennonite minister of whose life little is known. He may have been a native of the little town of Molkwerum in Friesland, as his name indicates. At the end of the 17th century he was minister of het kleine hoopke (the small group) at Harlingen, Dutch province of Friesland, which had separated about 1696 from the main body of the Flemish congregation in this town. Later on he was preacher at Emden, East Friesland. He was extremely conservative and a champion of the authority of Mennonite confessions. He is especially known for his writings. In 1698 he published Der Mennoniten Leere of onderwijsinge voor de Doopsgezinde Christenheid; waarin de leerstucken van hunne belydenis . . . aan den dag gebragt worden en met de Schriftuur verrijkt . . . (Amsterdam). After Galenus Abrahamsz had published his Korte Grondstellingen (1699) Feddriks, who thought Galenus was introducing the heresy of Socinianism, was instructed by the Zonist Societeit, meeting on 1-12 May 1700 to draw up a refutation; accordingly he published Mennonitisch Ondersoek op de Korte Grondstellingen, Die van Dr. Galenus opgestelt zijn . . . (Amsterdam, 1700). Now Feddriks was attacked by Jan Klaasz van Grouw, who published De leer der Doopsgezinden verdedigd . . . (Amsterdam, 1702). Thereupon Feddriks answered by his book De Rechtsinnigheyd van de Leer der Mennoniten opgestelt . . . tegen de vreemd gemaakte misduydingen van Jan Klaassen van Grouw . . . (Amsterdam, 1703). Feddriks' writings and his opposition to the Socinian doctrines were highly appreciated not only by Zonist Mennonites like L. Bidloo, H. Schijn, and E. A. van Dooregeest, but also by the Reformed in the Netherlands. Feddriks left behind an unpublished manuscript, "Harmonie of Overeenstemminge der vier Evangelisten."